Undeniable
by Kinomi Akai
Summary: COMPLETE. It's not about destiny. It's about desperate, desperate desire. The overarching story that links everything else I've ever written together. For lilith-evanson, who messaged me out of the blue with their whole multiverse theory only to find out they'd been right the whole time :) I can't believe you knew! SNS, Reincarnation AU, oneshot.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!  
_

_Summary: __COMPLETE. It's not about destiny. It's about desperate, desperate desire. The overarching story that links everything else I've ever written together. For lilith-evanson, who messaged me out of the blue with their whole multiverse theory only to find out they'd been right the whole time :) I can't believe you knew! SNS, Reincarnation AU, oneshot.__  
_

_A/N: And your second fic! A little shorter, but one that I'm really excited about. I've always been pretty inspired by Michelerene's Stuck in the Between, so ever since I really started writing, I've had this in the back of my mind...  
_

_I'll let you read the rest :)_

* * *

**Undeniable**

The path was fog—like whispers of clouds, of peace, of contentment. Naruto walked along it, feet kicked out in front of him, uncaring of the way it shimmered into a translucent nothing, echoing the shiver of his own body…

"Itachi says he's sorry," he said, after a moment. He paused in his step, and let Sasuke's body gently bump into his.

Sasuke didn't complain.

"What did he do this time?" Sasuke asked, chin on Naruto's shoulder, arm around his waist. Naruto let his head lean back and closed his eyes, memorizing the feeling he knew like the back of his hand.

"He didn't say. Something about you being alone, though," Naruto answered, and Sasuke…

"Like that's a change."

Naruto scoffed and opened his eyes. He broke Sasuke's grip only to spin around, only to look Sasuke in the eye...to look into his eyes, which felt like so much more of his soul than his skin did, most times…

"Yeah, well—he's been keeping an eye on that life a lot recently. Dunno if he blames himself for leaving you or something."

"Hm," Sasuke answered, letting Naruto look at him. Letting himself look at Naruto, too, with an openness that so often took so _long _for Sasuke to finally show...

"It wouldn't be worse than anything I've done," he said softly, and there it was—the gentle sadness, the soft apology in Sasuke's eyes. Naruto picked it out, from time to time, when he would get just a little too quiet, too stiff, too lost in his own thoughts and not lost enough in Naruto's touch.

That touch could bring him right back, though.

"Challenge," he said, tapping Sasuke on the tip of his nose—and there it was. The small, beautiful, barely-there smile that Naruto sometimes felt _had_ to be the single source behind every ounce of happiness in the world—

"Stupid," he said softly, pulling Naruto closer. Naruto swallowed the delight in his throat, stopping the laugh lest it interrupt Sasuke— "I always leave you."

Naruto made a small noise of discontent as the images flashed through his mind. Naruto, alone at a bus stop in the middle of winter—Sasuke, in a valley with spinning red eyes and a desperation no child should know—Sasuke, pushing Naruto away and away until he stormed out into the weather that echoed in his heart—Naruto, heaving in a broken breath as he turned away from Sasuke's silent, silent, silent hospital bed—

Sasuke, shaking with a silent cry over Naruto's half-living body. Sasuke, throwing himself in front of Naruto with a body that moved on it's own. Sasuke, holding a Naruto steady who couldn't do it, couldn't keep doing this, couldn't keep breathing through this pain anymore—Sasuke, unwilling to believe every confession Naruto let out, even as the words were on his tongue, too...Sasuke, in Naruto's head, in the middle of the night, taunting, teasing—_Sasuke_, wearing a certain something under his suit, driving Naruto wild until they were alone, together, together...Sasuke, staring at a Naruto he'd barely just met, with eyes that begged him not to go—

"You always love me," Naruto countered, and Sasuke was silent.

Naruto smiled at his victory. (That feeling hummed with familiarity, too.)

"You still don't know," Naruto said, laughing and staring and shaking his head, "a million lives, and you still don't know."

He spun away, but Sasuke pulled him back. He didn't need to voice the question in his eyes for it to make Naruto's smile widen.

"You're in too deep," Naruto told him. "Too many lives have passed. You could spend another thousand doing nothing but hurting me, nothing but leaving, and it would have all still been worth it. You've loved me too much."

And Sasuke breathed in, there—like the words dove into him and weaved around his throat, like it was his first time ever hearing them at all.

Naruto knew the feeling.

"You've loved me more," said Sasuke, and Naruto's head spun.

"No. Not enough," Naruto answered, brushing a strand of Sasuke's hair back with a finger might have been shaking with all that Naruto could feel in it. "It'll never be enough."

And Sasuke pressed his forehead to Naruto's then, like it was something that could stop the dizzying thoughts. Naruto thought it rather worsened them, with echo upon echo telling him Sasuke was here, close, right here, get closer, kiss him, kiss him, kiss him—

Sasuke kissed him first.

Naruto never tired of this. Never tired of the way Sasuke's lips felt against his—the way his nose pressed to his cheek, the way his grip would relax and then tighten, the way Naruto would run his hands through his hair and Sasuke would tuck a thumb underneath whatever fabric he could find—

Chills. Decadent, shivering ecstasy, even as they pulled apart.

_I know your heart, and you, mine. (I think I always have.)_

_You haven't said I love you yet? (I've never seen you like this about someone.)_

_You're really something else. (I've spent too long missing you.)_

_You won, remember? (I'll always be yours.)_

_Relentless. (I am so in love with you.)_

Echoes upon echoes, and all of them right.

Something perfect—something undeniable, even with all that they tried to deny it. And oh, how they'd _tried_ it—lives on lives where they'd never met, stayed stubbornly apart no matter how acutely it made their hearts ache, living apart if only to keep the world around them happy—desperately trying to—

_Forget that happened. (Because you're my friend.)_

No. Those weren't their moments, Naruto thought. And those others weren't their lives, when they lasted apart. They were important, though—like steps they had to take to find each other next time. Find each other in the end. It wasn't a fate—no, life wasn't kind enough to pull them together from whatever ends of the earth they'd managed to end up on that time. There was no unchangeable destiny in their hands—

_If that's what it means to be wise, I'll be an idiot all my life. (We got there in the end.)_

No, it wasn't up to fate.

Their love was in no one's hands but their own.

They pulled apart, and Naruto sucked in the breath Sasuke sighed out. It sounded like "I love you," but for the life of him, Naruto couldn't tell which one of them had whispered it. The dizzying happiness in his heart sent another wave of nostalgia through his head—he felt all his love all at once and he—

_This is exactly what I meant. (You saved me.)_

_Take me with you. (Took you long enough.)_

_I needed you in my life. (Let me spend it with you.)_

_I've loved you every damn day since we met. (Figured it out, have you?)_

_I want to memorize this. (I'm the best I've ever been.)_

_I want to be there. I want to be with you. (You feel like home, Sasuke.)_

_You missed this idiot. (Marry me?)_

"We should have a wedding," Naruto blurted out, memories still holding his heart—

Sasuke laughed at him, pulling back with a shake of his head.

"We've already had thousands," he pointed out, his hand staying gently (but firmly) holding Naruto's.

"Let's have another," Naruto insisted, falling into step again. "Which one was your favourite?"

And Sasuke glanced back with a look so gentle, then, that Naruto felt himself stop in place.

Sasuke stopped with him.

"The one where you set everything on fire."

Naruto laughed, and tumbled his body right into Sasuke's. Sasuke didn't even stumble.

"Excuse _me_," he laughed, breathless and delighted, "I set everything on fire that was _supposed_ to be set on fire."

_(Sasuke makes you nuts.)_

He paused, letting the memory flutter through his head, leaning into Sasuke's warmth…

"That was a perfect night, though."

_Uchiha. (Does it hurt?)_

Sasuke breathed out his soft, quiet agreement.

_Uzumaki. (I like it.)_

"Yours?"

Naruto's wide smile came back in full force.

"I can never pick one," he said, breathing out. "Never just one. I liked the...the time you didn't realize I'd taken your name, though."

_Isn't kinda too late for that? (I thought you knew.)_

Sasuke swatted at him, and Naruto crumbled into his happy laugh, catching Sasuke's hand again with ease. (He didn't bother letting go.)

"Stupid," Sasuke said, and Naruto laughed at him.

"Yeah, _me_," he mocked, and Sasuke used their hands to yank Naruto into a stumble. He caught Naruto in his arms, and for a moment, they didn't move.

"I like the lives where we get married," Naruto told him.

_Read it out loud. (I've been trying to write these vows since we started planning this.)_

Sasuke smiled softly.

"I like the lives where we run away together."

_I've wanted that for so long, Sasuke. (And when I leave, come with me.)_

Naruto laughed and pulled them forwards—

"That's the same _thing_, asshole."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but dutifully walked along with him.

"Maybe in your head," he muttered, and Naruto spun around with a _look_, because he knew full well what Sasuke's little snipes about his intelligence sounded like—

But Sasuke knew exactly how Naruto reacted to them, too, and Naruto was met with a soft, knowing smile.

"Ass," Naruto said, pulling them forwards.

"Moron," Sasuke replied, easily following behind him. "Are you dragging me to see my brother?"

"He's _moping_ again, Sasuke, we've gotta go."

"He's always moping. I don't recall you being so eager to visit the rest of my family."

Naruto shoved himself into Sasuke's shoulder.

"The rest of your family is _scary_, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't really manage to stifle the laugh, that time.

"And my brother isn't?"

"Well, I mean—" Naruto said, pausing. "He—"

"Mhmm."

"Shut up! He's all hung up on our newest life, so—"

"Ah. Which you want to go watch with him, don't you?"

Naruto's mouth opened and closed.

Sasuke's smile widened.

"Right, then. Shall we?"

* * *

_A/N: This originally had soooooo many major spoilers for the vampire AU in it! Hahaha. I cut them, but if there are some lines you don't recognize...it might be from that fic :) All those lines are either from canon or something I've written. It was really fun to revisit everything like this. I hope you all think so too!_

_Love you guys!_

_Until next time,_

_\- Kinomi_


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